Conventionally, a rotary compressor includes a cylinder body, and end plate members provided on both ends of the cylinder body. The cylinder body and the end plate members define a cylinder chamber. A roller is placed in this cylinder chamber. A blade is integrally fitted to the roller, and both sides of the blade are sealed by a bush. By these blade and roller, the interior of the cylinder chamber is partitioned into a low-pressure chamber and a high-pressure chamber. A gap along the roller axis direction is formed between the roller and the end plate members. Then, the gap in the roller axis direction between the roller and the end plate members, and the gap in the roller axis direction between the bush and the end plate members, are generally identical to each other (see JP 8-159070 A).
However, in this conventional rotary compressor, since the gap in the roller axis direction between the roller and the end plate members and the gap in the roller axis direction between the bush and the end plate members are generally identical to each other, refrigerant gas present in the high-pressure chamber, during compression, would pass through the gap in the roller axis direction between the bush and the end plate members to leak to the low-pressure chamber, disadvantageously. Also, the refrigerant gas would flow from a space located outer than the bush in the radial direction of the roller (a space behind the bush), through the gap in the roller axis direction between the bush and the end plate members, directly into the cylinder chamber, as another disadvantage. This leak of the refrigerant gas has been a factor of performance degradation of the rotary compressor.